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in our backyard

Over the weekend we had some free time (something that occasionally happens on the weekends) so we decided to travel a couple of hours towards Lake Constance and watch four of our sponsored athletes ride a pretty epic mountain race. We love spending time with these guys, and even though it pretty much meant our weekend was in fact a “working” weekend, we had a little time on Saturday to do some exploring ourselves.

Being the height of summer (even though it’s pretty cold here) everything around the lake was booked out. Our last minute accommodation meant that we drove 45 minutes up some steep winding roads to a little mountain village which caters mainly for winter tourists in an area called the Bregenzerwald. The sweet lady at the hotel gave us directions to a “great kitchen”, so we drove back down the mountain to a town called “Au”, pronounced “ow”, like you hurt yourself. The restaurant was amazing. Great vegetarian options, and starters that included things like feta crème brûlée.

On Saturday, we went into the town Dornbirn and then headed to the water. Feeling like I needed some fresh air and time outside I directed Shane back up the mountains and into the gorges. They’re called the Rappenlochschlucht and I’d caught a few photos of them by chance when flicking through a brochure at our hotel. I searched the internet all morning, but the explanations and directions on the internet in English are impossible. I don’t even know if there are directions – you’re just supposed to know where to find these canyons, or you’re supposed to walk until you find them.

We were driving up a steep winding road and looked over the edge of a 625m bridge and saw what we were looking for. The greens in this place were amazing. They were just…so green. And every colour green you can imagine. When Shane and I find ourselves in places like this, we tend to run around like giddy children in a playground. Shane said he didn’t feel like he could take it all in. It was just so simple, and so overwhelming. As you get up to the top of the waterfall, it levels out and there’s a plateau with this green lake. These steps hurt on the way back up. We climbed down something like 600m!

The greens were just divine. So green they’re almost fluro.

There’s a dead end in this canyon. In 2011 there was a massive rock fall. It doesn’t make you feel safe to be down there – these rocks that fell blocked the river meters and meters high.

This was definitely a highlight of our weekend. And I got to do it with this cute guy. Hiking, smelling, revelling in the beauty that surrounds us, just a few hours away tucked into a mountainside. We finished our weekend being the support team for our riders. We had four in the race – one punctured, one opted for the short course, and the two who were in it went for the win. For some reason or other, even though they were on competing team, they worked hard to push for a new record for the race. Knowing they’d achieved this, they crossed the line together to win first place – shared! When asked why they did it, they answered “for InfoCrank, because this power meter is perfect”, and Shane and I got a special mention too. They’re super sweet guys, and we love spending weekends at bike races with them.

I love this photo of Shane with Beppe. As soon as Beppe crosses the line, he comes to find us. We’re honoured to be his sponsors and his support team. This weekend we’re heading down to see where Beppe and his team mate Nikita live and work, and on the way we’re going to learn some Italian so we can say a thing or two to them.